Begging For Armageddon

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Matt Osborne

I was catching up on the story of India’s terror alert when I spotted this buried far below the lede:

The terror alert came just days after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that a syndicate of terror groups affiliated with al-Qaida was trying to foment a new war between India and Pakistan. (Emphasis mine)

Armageddon is the ultimate extremist fantasy, and al-Qaeda is even more devoted to the idea than most. 9/11 was supposed to trigger the End Times (though to be fair, Salafists don’t engage in eschatology the way Jack Van Impe does), and its failure to do so actually surprised bin Laden. One of the primary proofs is in the lack of follow-on attacks in the immediate wake of that awful day: they were expecting the world to erupt in God-inspired violence.

So it doesn’t surprise me in the least to find al-Qaeda trying to bring two nuclear-armed states into conflict; in fact, it’s a logical step for them. The way to defeat them is to not let their plans succeed.

About Matt Osborne

Veteran blogging the culture wars from Alabama. Video journalist, mash-up artist, aspiring novelist, and metalhead. Expect bunnies, geekery, dark humor, and snarky empirical analysis to annoy idealists of all stripes. You can follow me on Twitter, but be ready 'cause it might get loud.
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  • http://www.geosolus.net/ Geo

    so you don't think 9/11 was an inside job then? I'm not one to jump on conspiracy theories but there are alot of things that don't add up for me and I do no think that Al Q is as big a threat as it is portayed or ever was.

  • http://www.osborneink.com OsborneInk

    Geo, for 9/11 to be an inside job requires a Rube Goldberg-device of conspiracy. I say there is nothing so dangerous as the determined individual, especially when no one is expecting them to act. I'll be writing more about this in the coming months, but 9/11 “truth” is no more than a wacky security blanket for Manichean minds. As for al-Qaeda: they very nearly killed me in 1997, so I don't think of them as not dangerous.

  • http://www.geosolus.net/ Geo

    well I don't think it was an inside job either. I do however think it was allowed to happen. A lot of people did not turn up for work that day which suggests two things: the US economy was being run by a bunch of slackers, which given the current state of the ecomomy shouldn't be left out of the equation. Or that a bunch of folk got a phone call suggesting it best to take a day off. I go with the phone call simply because governments have pulled off that stunt on several occasions throughout history. The old End meets the Means. Churchill let a whole town get wiped out so that Nazi Germany didn't know that the UK had the codebreaker. During the same era the French resistance was called to arms with the promise of British air support on an offensive. The resistance turned but the planes didn't as it was decided that the mixed politics and in fighting of the resistance was more a threat than an aid. History books are full of situations like these. It's all down to priorities and economic agendas.
    Now I appreciate your stance on Al Q but what I was saying is that they are not as big a threat as portrayed not that they are not a threat. I grew up to the sound of Irish terrorist bombs shaking my windows and it was a fairly regular occurance over the years and throughout the UK and Ireland. There has been one case in UK (Successful attempts) since the whole war on terror began however civil liberties are being lost bit by bit all the name of something a very large part of the population didn't want to see start in the first place. The UK couldn't handle the I.R.A. which was a very small group of indivuals yet it joins a battle supposedly of far larger threat that has managed just one awful act of terrorism within the country.
    Anyway, looking forward to reading more from you about it and I'll do my best to come add my pinch of salt, though I think I've said that before. I would say promise but that could be a lie.